multi users database access

[EmilienH]

Hello,

I would like IMatch5 does support concurrent access by multiple users in writable mode. I know we can do this with Microsoft Access database I know that IMatch is designed completely differently.
I should be a good improvement if IMatch does support at the same time multiple users in read only mode and one user in writable mode.
I don't know if my proposal is workable but it should be a good feature

Emilien Herault

[Mario]

This will in fact be very, very hard to do.

Just consider 3 users working with IMatch at the same time in writable mode.

One user is importing new files to the database. The other two users are updating categories, changing metadata, ratings, labels. Maybe update files in Photoshop... Now try to envision how all the changes made to the database by the various users have to be pushed to all users currently working with the database....

All data-driven categories, collections, filters, the contents of the filter panel, stacks, @Keywords, versions, and many other things do change or can change - even by adding, updating or removing one file. When user A changes a keywords in some files, or other metadata, this may have an effect of the categories users B and C see. Or for the contents of the file window they are looking at. Or the result of the filter panel they have currently open. It may even remove the files they are currently viewing because user A has moved them to another category.

The Metadata user C is using while working with the Renamer changes while he still runs the renamer, because user C has changed the metadata of some of the files...

IMatch would have to transmit all that information over the network, synchronize all IMatch instances running on the same database...
And this is just one of the really complex problems I would have to solve. Of course I could introduce locking mechanisms, delayed distribution of updates, "check-in and check-out" patterns. But all that adds a ton of complexity on top of IMatch, and there will never be enough users who would pay for that. I could spend a year developing this, and then I sell maybe 200 licenses. There is just no demand for this.

The entry-level systems on the market which support so-so "multi-user concurrent write" are much simpler than IMatch, or limit the functionality available when working in a concurrent mode.

If you need a true multi-user concurrent DAM, consider the systems provided by companies like Canto or FotoWare. They start relatively cheap around a couple of thousand US$ for a server license and some client licenses. Hardware comes extra.

[Richard]

Hello,

I would like IMatch5 does support concurrent access by multiple users in writable mode. I know we can do this with Microsoft Access database I know that IMatch is designed completely differently.
I should be a good improvement if IMatch does support at the same time multiple users in read only mode and one user in writable mode.
I don't know if my proposal is workable but it should be a good feature

Emilien Herault

I am seeing two very different requests.
1) concurrent access by multiple users in writable mode
2) support at the same time multiple users in read only mode and one user in writable mode

I believe Mario's reply was to the first.

[EmilienH]

Yes for the second requests It's a working like Microsoft Word excel and so on

[Mario]

There is no difference.
If user A changes the database, IMatch must update whatever needed for all other users. Whether they are read-only or not. All the problems I outlined above are valid for both cases.

[RalfC]

Yes for the second requests It's a working like Microsoft Word excel and so on

If user A changes the database, IMatch must update whatever needed for all other users. Whether they are read-only or not. All the problems I outlined above are valid for both cases.

To paraphraze it:

Excel, etc., let users work with potentially outdated data. Mario's description shows what would be needed to take care that users are working with up-to-date data/information.

And even if it would be acceptable to work with potentially outdated dated, it would need a database server on the same machine (e.g. for single users) or in the network (multiple users). This would be additional overhead for everybody who usese IMatch in a single user environment (with the result of slowing the work down). I can not imagine that many people would appreciate this.

Regards,
Ralf